Insight

Superman or Batman?

Almost every time one of our Consiglieres speaks with an executive about his organization and his employees, the question comes up “how do we retain our staff, how do we deal with retention”? This question is never easy to answer and is often compared by us to the question: Who is better? Superman or Batman?

Retention literally means “to hold on to. As such, a retention policy is one that aims to keep your employees motivated, captivated and connected to your company, thus lowering turnover and keeping your employees ‘stuck’.

Recruiting and retaining the right employees and increasing commitment is a challenge for many companies. The tight labor market means that recruiting employees is hard enough, let alone attracting flexible workers and employees for irregular and shift work. It has always been easy to dismiss this as an HR problem. However, the hard truth is that it affects every level of the company: problems with recruitment and retention have a negative effect on both growth and productivity.

There is an awful lot of information on the internet about retention, strategies, policies, procedures, punishments, rewards, etc…. It is also a popular topic for consultants and advisors who like to work with systems, procedures, statistics and multi-year plans. Let’s face it, as an employer you know that just an attractive salary is not enough to keep your valuable employees on board. You need policy, data, structure and vision to ensure you keep the back door closed. 

1. Invest in the Onboarding

We’ll start at the beginning: the Onboarding of brand new employees. By thoughtfully and efficiently landing new employees in the company, they feel at home faster. And so they are engaged in no time, and feel less likely to leave the company. The goal is to introduce the new talent to the ins and outs of your company in the best way possible.

2. Provide sufficient feedback moments

Nowadays, annual evaluation moments are not enough for employees. Therefore, try to implement a feedback culture, where employees can constantly check their work and methods. Ideally, feedback should not only take place between managers and employees, but also between the staff themselves. Let everyone – albeit in a constructive manner – give feedback and learn from each other. 

3. Offer flexibility 

With the job market now largely made up of millennials, it pays to take a moment to consider how best to meet their needs. The key word? Flexibility, and that in the broad sense of the word. Roughly speaking, employees want the chance to do their job in their own way. That means access to the necessary technologies, opportunities to work from home and flexible schedules. As an employer, it may seem scary to offer so many freedoms, but strangely enough, flexibility often just makes for increased productivity and better results.

4. Generation-X

Don’t forget the large Gen-X group, the employees between 40 and 60 years of age, who can make a valuable contribution to the organization and retention. Generation-X will have to go along with the thinking of Generation-Y. This generation is accustomed to working online anywhere and thus being connected to others. Leaders of generation-X can use the Y-er in a smart way within the company. Generation-X with its knowledge and experience is still of absolute importance within the business world, they can teach the younger generations a lot. In this way, there is little generation gap and the competencies of different generations in the workplace are optimally utilized.

The big drivers of successful retention are communication and respect. 

Open communication is an example to encourage employees’ sense of belonging to the organization. They want to be able to contribute to the success of the organization by using their talents and competencies. In this way, the organization creates a certain form of engagement or involvement that plays a major role in staff retention and retention.

When people feel that they are not respected in the workplace, the consequences can be devastating. When they feel disrespected, two-thirds of your employees underperform. Developing a culture of respect helps build trust and cooperation, and engages employees in the purpose of the organization and their work to achieve that purpose. 

Finally, we are all human. We make mistakes, and sometimes we act out of character. A respectful manager is never afraid to admit his mistakes and take responsibility for his actions. Remember that if an employee is acting strangely, there may be a reason for it – good managers understand that the line between personal and work life can often be blurred.

Of course, you are curious about the answer to the question “who is better, Superman or Batman?”. Unfortunately, we cannot give you that answer because we specialize in Executive Search and Executive Consigliere. However if you ask me personally I can tell you that I have always had a personal soft spot for Superman!